Weekend storms in the nation's northern half knocked out power to thousands of customers Sunday and created nightmarish conditions for holiday travelers coast to coast on the first official day of winter.

In thousands of parks and wilderness areas across the nation, inexperienced and unprepared hikers get lost each year so lost, they have to be rescued. "Over the past five to 10 years, the number keeps growing each year," says Brian Duffy, president of the Southern Arizona Rescue Association, a volunteer organization that performs 85 to 100 search-and-rescue missions every year.

The Empire Builder snakes through Montana's Rockies, past evergreen forests and mountaintops that glisten with snow even in the warm months. It's a glorious morning in my transcontinental railway journey. Amtrak's intercity express had departed Portland, Ore., at 4:45 p.m. the previous day bound for Chicago. My destination was Penn Station in New York City, four calendar days and 3,216 miles distant.

Major highways were closed Monday as blizzard conditions wreaked havoc from Colorado across the Plains states, part of a treacherous system that also sent tornadoes ripping through Arkansas and Kansas.